


as long as i'm here, no one can hurt you

by cedarcries



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Post-Canon, Wedding Night, keith smokes and thats kinda hot ngl, lance misses allura and keith is in love with him, not their wedding tho, why do things have to change?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22308397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cedarcries/pseuds/cedarcries
Summary: on the night of shiro's wedding, lance is scared and alone.keith tries to do something about it.after all, lance is the man he's been in love with since they were seventeen.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 52





	as long as i'm here, no one can hurt you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StormingOverSeas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormingOverSeas/gifts).



> eek this is best if you play everything i wanted by billie eilish while reading; she's an icon and we stan
> 
> imagine still crying over klance over a year after the show's completion?? i can absolutely relate to that buddy

Keith was just going outside for a cigarette when he heard it.  
Crying.  
(Honestly, he was surprised he was even able to hear it over the noise inside the venue. Someone had cranked up the music, way too loud, and they were playing some old love song from the 2010's. God. Stupid weddings.)  
Keith decided to go after the sound... go and see what was wrong. See if he could do anything about it.  
He was pretty sure he knew who it was coming from.  
"Lance?" He called. "Lance, you out here?"  
Scuffling... "Yeah, I'm -- I'm here."  
Keith rounded the corner of the building. Lance was sitting all by himself on a concrete slab by the back door. His white suit looked a little scruffy, and his eyes were puffy and wet.  
"Hey, man," Keith said. He sat down next to him... Lance rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve. "You okay?"  
"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine."  
Keith looked at him. The sun was gone over the horizon, but the sky wasn't quite black yet; a deep purple, with a smattering of stars. Lance sure didn't look fine... Keith didn't want to press the issue. "Alright," he said. He pulled out a pack of smokes and lit one, then offered the box to Lance. "Want one?"  
"Oh -- no, thanks," Lance said, shaking his hands. "I don't really..."  
Keith nodded. He put the box away in his pocket and let out a puff of smoke. The lit end smouldered red in the dark. "Do you... wanna talk?"  
Lance sighed shakily. He ran his fingers through his hair -- his hair looked pretty now; he'd been growing it out, and it curled at the base of his neck. "I don't know, man," he said finally, "I just... everything is so different now that the war is over."  
Keith rolled the smoke in the back of his mouth and let it out. "What do you mean?"  
"It not even just the big changes that bother me, y'know? It's all the little stuff that gets to me."  
"Like what?"  
"...Like," Lance said softly, "like how everyone's features have changed. Like how we're all separated. Like... how you smoke. Like how Shiro got freaking married today, and -- and Allura's not here, and..." his voice cracked, and he trailed off. Keith knew from experience that that meant he was close to breaking down. Crumbling like a highrise after an earthquake.  
Keith moved closer to him, their shoulders touching -- just barely, but still. "You really miss her, huh."  
Lance stared at a crack in the concrete. An ant walked by, stopping to examine Lance's shoe. "...Yeah," he said after a while, faintly, "I really do."  
"I know... I know you do, Lance. I know."  
"She's gone, Keith," Lance whispered. "A-and you're gone, and Hunk's gone, and everyone's just -- going away." He gasped for air, and he was crying again. "I just miss you guys so much... I just want you all where I can have you. I just want you home."  
Keith couldn't take it anymore. The last few years -- nearly a decade; fuck, he couldn't believe it -- came to a peak, and he was so goddamned tired.  
He wrapped an arm around Lance's shoulders and pulled him in, close. Right up against his chest. "I know," he whispered into Lance's hair, "I miss you too, buddy, I miss you too."  
"I-I'm so sorry, Keith."  
"For what?"  
"For -- being so mean to you..."  
"Hey, I was mean back."  
"No, just... all those years, I was so mean to you. ...I'm really sorry."  
"Don't be sorry, Lance. It's not that big of a deal."  
"No, it is. You tried to reach out to me, but... I was too stubborn."  
Keith laughed at that, rubbing Lance's back. "Hey, I was the stubborn one... I was the loner. Mr. Lone Wolf, remember?"  
Lance made a noise. Keith couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a laugh or a sob.  
"Hey, Lance... look at me."  
Lance looked up at him. His markings were so blue, so beautiful against his skin.  
Keith found the courage buried deep in his chest... his emergency supply. The stuff he used to save for Voltron, and the Blades, and all that other life-threatening shit he had to do when he was far too young to be doing it. "...Lance," he said softly, "I love you, so much, and -- and you can see that in whatever way you want to, because any way you look at it, it's still true. I love you as a -- as a friend, like a brother, and, and I love you as a teammate... and, yeah, I like you. I love you in that way, too. I just wanted you to know that. You're never alone, because I love you, and Hunk loves you, and Pidge loves you, and Shiro loves you, and your family -- and Allura still loves you, too, even though she's gone. Okay? I love you."  
His confession hung, unanswered, in the evening air for a moment, and for a split second, Keith thought maybe he'd made a mistake.  
Then Lance spoke. "You... like me?"  
Keith blushed. "Yeah," he whispered. "Of course I do."  
Lance went quiet.  
Then he tilted his chin up and brought their mouths together, and finally, finally, they were kissing.  
Keith brushed his knuckles against Lance's cheekbone. Lance kept rubbing his thumb over the scar on Keith's jawline.  
Keith, in all his twenty-something years of life (he'd stopped counting birthdays on the space whale), had never-ever, not once, kissed anybody.  
Finally.  
"Wow," he said when they finally pulled apart. "What's this?"  
Lance laughed. "I dunno..."  
Keith reached for another cigarette. After a couple drags, he noticed Lance staring... he smiled. "You want some now?"  
Lance took Keith's hand, guiding the cigarette over to his mouth. He took in a breath and coughed violently. "Ugh. Gross. Never doing that again."  
Keith laughed. He kissed Lance's temple, keeping an arm safe around his shoulders. "Alright."  
"Keith?" Lance said softly, looking up at him from where he rest his head on his chest. His eyes looked so blue, yet so grey next to his Altean marks. He looked so beautiful; Keith could hardly believe he was real.  
He was real, and he was here. They were both here, together, right now.  
"Yeah?"  
Lance smiled.  
"I love you, too. So. Much."

**Author's Note:**

> birthday gift for stormingoverseas! go read her stuff if you haven't, she's so so so good!!
> 
> leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed!!


End file.
